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Agronomist says farmers not likely to cut fungicides in ‘25  

An agronomist with Golden Harvest says he expects many farmers not to cut back on corn fungicide usage in 2025.

Nate Prater, who covers the southern third of Illinois and portions of southwestern Indiana, tells Brownfield, “Average management nowadays is at least one fungicide pass of some sort.”  He says, “I take that to two things, the availability of fungicide and the route to application.”

He says the spread of yield impacting diseases such as tar spot, has farmers in a defensive mindset.

“There’s a lot of different fungicides out there.”  He says, “There’s some of the generic routes where you can find some cheaper stuff out there. They do a lot of good on certain diseases.  Longevity wise, it’s tough to keep some of them out there long enough to where they do a really good job.”

Prater says the industry’s quick adoption of spray drones means virtually every acre can be protected.

“Before, airplane and helicopter were about the only way you could apply fungicides on tasseled corn.”  He says, “But with the drones out there, that really changed the game the last two or three years.”

He says extended plant health and standability are additional benefits farmers typically see with timely fungicide applications.